Fritz Lang | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/fritz-lang
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:03:49 GMT2015-03-31T21:03:49Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Metropolis review – Philip French on Fritz Lang’s visionary epichttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/metropolis-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvd
(Fritz Lang, 1927; Eureka!, PG)<p>Lang, the visionary German film-maker, cinematic tyrant and creator of movie genres, worked for over a year on his most expensive movie, the dystopian sci-fi epic <em>Metropolis</em>, only to see it exhibited around the world in shortened, differently edited versions. Despite the spectacular sets and the dazzling special effects, its allegory of a future where an exploited underclass works in subterranean machine halls to support a small, pampered aristocracy living in palatial skyscrapers, received a mixed reception. The general public was puzzled, <a href="http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/Metroh.htm" title="">the critics, among them HG&nbsp;Wells, often scornful</a>.</p><p>But <em>Metropolis – </em>shown by film societies to excited cinephiles in tattered, faded, incomplete copies, and its familiar stills reproduced in books – went on to become one of the landmarks of world cinema, among the last of the silent classics. It influenced generations of film-makers and musicians, providing iconic images of oppression and liberation. Restoring the picture to its original 150 minutes became the holy grail of film archivists. The historian David Bordwell picked it as one of the greatest 150 films in the 2001 symposium Film: The Critics’ Choice, observing that “it survives in several variations and a complete version may never be reconstructed”. But he added: “Nonetheless, all the footage we have displays mesmerising inventiveness.”</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/metropolis-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvd">Continue reading...</a>MetropolisDVD and video reviewsFilmCultureFritz LangScience fiction and fantasySun, 15 Mar 2015 07:59:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/metropolis-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvdPhotograph: Moviestore Collection/REXMetroplis: ‘influenced generations of film-makers and musicians’. Photograph: REX/Moviestore Collection/REXPhotograph: Moviestore Collection/REXMetroplis: ‘influenced generations of film-makers and musicians’. Photograph: REX/Moviestore Collection/REXPhilip French2015-03-15T07:59:05ZThe shape of things to come: share your art about the futurehttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/02/the-shape-of-things-to-come-share-your-art-about-the-future
<p>When you imagine the future, do you see flying cars or rising floods? Share your utopian or dystopian visions now<br></p><ul><li><a href="http://theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/mar/02/river-deep-mountain-high-readers-best-landscapes-in-pictures">River deep mountain high: readers’ best landscapes – in pictures</a></li><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/2014/dec/22/share-your-art-your-chance-to-be-exhibited-in-london-and-new-york">Your chance to be exhibited in London and New York</a></li></ul><p>How do you picture the future? Such a hazy concept can be tackled in many ways, and plenty of artists have done just that. The futurists saw art as a way to express their hatred of the past – which seemingly manifested itself as a loathing of sadness, sentimentality, syntax, moonlight, monotony, the tango, marriage, the papacy, modesty, museums, the nude <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jun/06/futurism-f-t-marinetti">and even pasta</a>. Others, like film-maker <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/fritz-lang">Fritz Lang</a>, explored the possibilities of a perfect future in the shape of glorious <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/may/22/architecture">visionary architecture</a>.</p><p>Whether bleak or hopeful, dystopian or utopian, it’s time for you to share your artistic interpretations of what’s to come. You can interpret the theme any way you like, and use any materials, from pen and ink to needlework or film. If you’d prefer to discuss your favourite artworks about the future, please do so in the comment thread – where we’d also love your suggestions for future Share Your Art themes. Thanks to <a href="http://discussion.theguardian.com/comment-permalink/46810586">Amnqchety</a> for this month’s suggestion.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/02/the-shape-of-things-to-come-share-your-art-about-the-future">Continue reading...</a>Art and designCultureArtCeramicsDrawingPaintingPhotographyIllustrationDesignSculptureArchitectureFritz LangMon, 02 Mar 2015 14:10:19 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/02/the-shape-of-things-to-come-share-your-art-about-the-futurePhotograph: Allstar/Cinetext/ParamountA still from futuristic film Metropolis, by Fritz Lang.Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/ParamountA still from futuristic film Metropolis, by Fritz Lang.Marta Bausells2015-03-02T14:10:19ZSpione review – Philip French on Fritz Lang’s groundbreaking spy thrillerhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/07/spione-review-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvd
(Fritz Lang, 1928, Eureka!, PG)<p>Reeling from the box-office disaster of his monumental science-fiction movie <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/metropolis"><em>Metropolis</em></a>, Fritz Lang was still contracted to Berlin’s UFA studio, whose bosses now demanded a cheaper surefire success in the crowd-pleasing style of his early thrillers. The result was <em>Spione</em> (aka Spies), which circulated in severely truncated versions until 2006, when the German restorers drew on a variety of prints to bring it back to the original three-hour duration. Until then it was regarded as a minor work that Lang would invariably refer to as “a small film with a lot of action”. In fact, <em>Spione </em>weaves together recurrent Lang themes of fate, fear, power and paranoia into a dynamic conspiracy thriller that taps into the underlying tensions of Weimar Germany and presents the modern city as at once liberating and frightening.</p><p>The movie’s narrative origins reside in the Louis Feuillade French serials much admired by the surrealists and centres on the megalomaniac schemes of Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Lang’s regular villain in <em>Metropolis</em> and the <em>Dr Mabuse </em>films), a master criminal with many faces. He controls his empire from a wheelchair in a secret headquarters beneath a bank and anticipates both Bond’s enemies and Kubrick’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/dr-strangelove"><em>Dr Strangelove</em></a>. Haghi’s nemesis is the suave government secret agent No&nbsp;326 (debonair German matinee idol Willy Fritsch), who falls in love with the former Russian spy Sonja (Gerda Maurus), one of Haghi’s accomplices.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/07/spione-review-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvd">Continue reading...</a>Fritz LangThrillerDVD and video reviewsFilmCultureSun, 07 Dec 2014 00:05:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/07/spione-review-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvdPhotograph: Everett Collection/REXSpione: ‘taps into the underlying tensions of Weimar Germany’. Photograph: Everett Collection/REXPhotograph: Everett Collection/REXSpione: ‘taps into the underlying tensions of Weimar Germany’. Photograph: Everett Collection/REXPhilip French2014-12-07T00:05:08ZWoman in the Moon – Philip French on Fritz Lang’s restored moon-mission yarnhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/23/fritz-lang-woman-in-the-moon-dvd-review-philip-french
(Fritz Lang, 1929; Eureka!, U; DVD/Blu-ray)<p>Fritz Lang was not merely a major practitioner of genre cinema but the creator of several genres, and a German documentary accompanying this <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frau-Mond-Woman-Moon-DVD/dp/B000Y3FIIM">handsomely restored 163-minute version</a> of his last silent picture is correctly called <em>The First Scientific Science-Fiction Film</em>.</p><p>It has two claims on our attention, first as a landmark in the history of science fiction pictures that stretches from M&eacute;li&egrave;s’s <em>A Trip to the Moon</em> (1902) to Christopher Nolan’s <em>Interstellar</em>, and second, for its important contribution to rocketry and space travel. Lang was inspired by the 1923 book <em>The Rocket into Interplanetary Space </em>by <a href="http://inventors.about.com/od/germaninventors/a/Oberth.htm">Hermann Oberth</a>, who became the film’s scientific adviser and later an important figure in the team that developed the V2 rocket in the second world war and carried on the work in postwar America.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/23/fritz-lang-woman-in-the-moon-dvd-review-philip-french">Continue reading...</a>DVD and video reviewsFilmCultureFritz LangScience fiction and fantasySun, 23 Nov 2014 00:07:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/23/fritz-lang-woman-in-the-moon-dvd-review-philip-frenchPhotograph: /PR‘A landmark in the history of science fiction’: Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Moon.Photograph: /PR‘A landmark in the history of science fiction’: Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Moon.Philip French2014-11-23T00:07:06ZM review – timeless portrayal of crime and punishmenthttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/07/m-review-timeless-portrayal-crime-punishment
Peter Lorre is superb as a tortured killer in Fritz Lang's nightmarish 1931 film<p>&quot;With his little chopper, he will chop you up...&quot; I am not ashamed to admit that after first seeing Fritz Lang's 1931 chiller, I had nightmares about a child's balloon caught amid telephone wires – one of the most understatedly distressing images of prewar cinema. From the disappearance of Elsie Beckmann to the anguished pleading of Peter Lorre's tormented killer (&quot;I can't help what I do! I can't help it!&quot;), Lang's razor-sharp dissection of crime and&nbsp;punishment never puts a foot wrong. Lorre&nbsp;(who died <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/peter-lorre-by-philip-french-m-huston-bogart-hitchcock-bacall" title="">50 years&nbsp;ago</a>) is magnificent in his first major screen role, and Fritz Arno Wagner's stark cinematography is handsomely restored&nbsp;to&nbsp;crisply unsettling effect.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/07/m-review-timeless-portrayal-crime-punishment">Continue reading...</a>ThrillerFritz LangFilmCultureSat, 06 Sep 2014 23:02:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/07/m-review-timeless-portrayal-crime-punishmentwww.ronaldgrantarchive.comInge Landgut and Peter Lorre in the 'razor-sharp' M. Photograph: www.ronaldgrantarchive.comwww.ronaldgrantarchive.comInge Landgut and Peter Lorre in the 'razor-sharp' M. Photograph: www.ronaldgrantarchive.comMark Kermode, Observer film critic2014-09-06T23:02:03ZThe Guest, Before I Go To Sleep, The Hundred-Foot Journey: this week's new filmshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/06/the-guest-before-i-go-to-sleep-the-hundred-foot-journey-this-weeks-new-films
<p>The Guest | Before I Go To Sleep | The Hundred-Foot Journey</p><p><strong>(Adam Wingard, 2014, US) Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Lance Reddick. 100 mins</strong></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/06/the-guest-before-i-go-to-sleep-the-hundred-foot-journey-this-weeks-new-films">Continue reading...</a>CultureFilmNicole KidmanJason SegelCameron DiazMorgan FreemanFritz LangJennifer AnistonPaul RuddAlex GibneyHelen MirrenSat, 06 Sep 2014 05:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/06/the-guest-before-i-go-to-sleep-the-hundred-foot-journey-this-weeks-new-filmsPhotograph: OtherThe GuestPhotograph: OtherThe GuestSteve Rose2014-09-06T05:00:08ZM review – Fritz Lang's superb thriller fascinateshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/04/m-review-fritz-lang
Paranoia and a feverish atmosphere surround the hunt for a child-killer in this re-release of the chilling 1931 drama<p>M is for Murder, or M&ouml;rder, the chalked letter pressed on the shoulder of a&nbsp;notorious child-killer in Berlin by a&nbsp;member of an organised criminal underground – a secret sign to identify the psychopath and kill him. This is so that the police can call off their own city-wide manhunt, which is seriously inconveniencing the criminal classes. Fritz Lang's 1931 movie is back on re-release and Peter Lorre plays the porcine, pop-eyed serial killer Hans Beckert, speaking German with a rasping, querulous shout – rather different to the unmistakable nasal, lugubrious English of his later Hollywood career.</p><p>Otto Wernicke plays pudgy police inspector Lohmann, and Gustaf Gr&uuml;ndgens is Schr&auml;nker, the crime overlord who will finally sit in judgment on Beckert, presiding over something between a kangaroo court and a revolutionary tribunal. Lang depicts the paranoia and feverish atmosphere that gives birth to the dual&nbsp;investigation from the cops and the criminals. Lohmann has a determined, forensic technique, analysing the handwriting on Beckert's jeering letter to the press, and the woodgrain of the table the paper appears to have pressed&nbsp;on.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/04/m-review-fritz-lang">Continue reading...</a>Fritz LangThrillerCrimeDramaFilmCultureThu, 04 Sep 2014 21:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/04/m-review-fritz-langc. Everett / Rex Features/c. Everett / Rex FeaturesPeter Lorre stars as the porcine, ­pop-eyed serial killer Hans Beckert in M. Photograph: c. Everett / Rex Featuresc. Everett / Rex Features/c. Everett / Rex FeaturesPeter Lorre stars as the porcine, ­pop-eyed serial killer Hans Beckert in M. Photograph: c. Everett / Rex FeaturesPeter Bradshaw2014-09-04T21:30:01ZWhy Fritz Lang's M is the one film you should watch this week – videohttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/04/m-film-you-should-watch-video
Andrew Pulver recommends German director Fritz Lang's newly restored 1931 psychological thriller M. Made two years before Adolf Hitler came to power, this film about a child murderer still retains its power to disturb. It is also a trenchant treatise on crime and justice and a vivid portrait of the rapidly disintegrating Weimar republic<br /><br />• M opens <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/whats-on/bfi-film-releases/m">in selected cinemas around the UK</a> on Friday 5 September <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/04/m-film-you-should-watch-video">Continue reading...</a>FilmFritz LangThrillerThu, 04 Sep 2014 06:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/04/m-film-you-should-watch-videoBFIPeter Lorre in M Photograph: BFIAndrew Pulver2014-09-04T06:00:00ZTop 10 silent movieshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/22/top-10-silent-movies-films
Think silent films reached a high point with The Artist? The pre-sound era produced some of the most beautiful, arresting films ever made. From City Lights to Metropolis, Guardian and Observer critics pick the 10 best<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/01/top-10-teen-movies">• Top 10 teen movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/04/top-10-superhero-movies">• Top 10 superhero movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/08/top-10-movie-westerns">• Top 10 westerns</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/12/top-10-documentaries">• Top 10 documentaries</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/15/top-10-movie-adaptations">• Top 10 movie adaptations</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/20/top-10-animated-movies-films">• Top 10 animated movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/series/top-10-films">• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/22/top-10-silent-movies-films">Continue reading...</a>Silent filmFilmCharlie ChaplinFilm criticismWorld cinemaBuster KeatonFritz LangComedyScience fiction and fantasyHorrorDramaAlfred HitchcockFW MurnauCultureMetropolisFri, 22 Nov 2013 16:55:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/22/top-10-silent-movies-filmsCharles Chaplin Productions/Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarBFIRobald Grant/PRCinetext/Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarRonald Grant ArchiveCourtesy of the BFIAllstar/Cinetext/MGM/Allstar/Cinetext/MGMBFI/PRRonald Grant ArchivePRPRStill from the Fritz Lang film, Metropolis Photograph: PRGuardian Staff2013-11-22T16:55:00ZTop 10 movie westernshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/08/top-10-movie-westerns
It's the most all-American of film genres, filled with he-men and black hats. But the western has given us some great movies: the Guardian and Observer's critics pick the 10 best<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/18/top-10-crime-movies">• Top 10 crime movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/21/top-10-arthouse-movies">• Top 10 arthouse movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/25/top-10-family-movies">• Top 10 family movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/28/top-10-war-movies">• Top 10 war movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/01/top-10-teen-movies">• Top 10 teen movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/04/top-10-superhero-movies">• Top 10 superhero movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/series/top-10-films">• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/08/top-10-movie-westerns">Continue reading...</a>WesternsFilmFritz LangBrad PittHoward HawksJohn WayneClint EastwoodRobert AltmanWarren BeattyPaul NewmanRobert RedfordJohn FordFri, 08 Nov 2013 15:26:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/08/top-10-movie-westernsRONALD GRANTPRAllstar/Cinetext/MGM/Allstar/Cinetext/MGMCinetext/AllstarSportsphoto Ltd/AllstarEverett Collection/REX/Everett Collection/REXAlamyRonald Grant ArchiveRonald Grant ArchiveAllstar/Cinetext/ParamountKobalGuardian Staff2013-11-08T15:26:00ZTop 10 sci-fi movieshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/16/top-10-sci-fi-movies
A long time ago, in a land far away... there were no space movies. Luckily, we have lots and the Guardian and Observer's critics have picked the 10 best ever<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/07/top-10-romantic-movies">• Top 10 romantic movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/10/top-10-action-movies">• Top 10 action movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/11/top-10-comedy-movies">• Top 10 comedy movies</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/14/top-10-horror-movies">• Top 10 horror movies</a><p>Science fiction has produced some of cinema's boldest and most glorious flights – in every sense. Sometimes patronised as kids' stuff, the genre seeks to look beyond the parochialism of most realist drama: to see other worlds and other existences, and therefore to look with a new, radically alienated eye at our own. Maybe something in the limitless possibilities of cinema itself spawned sci-fi.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/16/top-10-sci-fi-movies">Continue reading...</a>Science fiction and fantasyFilmKeanu ReevesArnold SchwarzeneggerJames CameronSteven SpielbergStar WarsGeorge LucasJames Earl JonesCarrie FisherAlec GuinnessAndrei TarkovskyWorld cinemaSigourney WeaverRidley ScottAlejandro JodorowskyPhilip K DickFilm adaptationsHarrison FordFritz LangSilent filmStanley KubrickSpaceArthur C ClarkeWed, 16 Oct 2013 15:50:18 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/16/top-10-sci-fi-moviesPRKobalKobalLucasfilm/AllstarKobalRonald Grant ArchiveAllstarAllstar/Cinetext/WARNER BROS/Allstar/Cinetext/WARNER BROSPRRonald Grant ArchivePRThe gang's all here ... Star WarsPRStar WarsGuardian Staff2013-10-16T15:50:18ZSirens & Sinners: Weimar cinema – in pictureshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2013/aug/07/sirens-sinners-weimar-cinema-in-pictures
In Germany's Weimar years, while inflation soared, the film industry flourished. From the stylised horror-fantasies of expressionism to the realism of 'street films' and chamber dramas, German studios produced accomplished movies that continue to influence modern cinema. A new book about this era, <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780500516898">Sirens &amp; Sinners</a>, celebrates the work of directors including FW Murnau, Fritz Lang and Max Ophüls, and actors such as Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre and Emil Jannings. Here is a selection of our favourite images <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2013/aug/07/sirens-sinners-weimar-cinema-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a>FilmSilent filmFritz LangFW MurnauCultureFilmPhotographyGermanyWed, 07 Aug 2013 10:50:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2013/aug/07/sirens-sinners-weimar-cinema-in-picturesThames & HudsonMax Schreck as Nosferatu Photograph: Thames &amp; HudsonSarah Gilbert and Pamela Hutchinson2013-08-07T10:50:00ZThe 10 best movie manhuntshttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/jan/19/10-best-movie-manhunts
As the Osama bin Laden pursuit movie Zero Dark Thirty joins the chase for Oscars, we recall other runaway successes, from the 1935 version of Les Misérables to North by Northwest <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/jan/19/10-best-movie-manhunts">Continue reading...</a>FilmAlfred HitchcockOrson WellesStanley KubrickFritz LangCultureNorth by NorthwestZero Dark ThirtySat, 19 Jan 2013 16:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/jan/19/10-best-movie-manhuntsSportsphoto Ltd/AllstarNorth By Northwest' (1959) Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarPhilip French2013-01-19T16:00:00ZThe Dark Knight Rises – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/22/dark-knight-rises-french-review
<p>Christopher Nolan's <em>The Dark Knight Rises </em>completes not only his personal trilogy focusing on socialite Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Gotham City's caped crusader, but also a cycle of popular culture that began in May 1939 when Batman was added to Detective Comics' pantheon of superheroes.</p><p>Batman's creator Bob Kane and his fellow comic-strip artists were all admirers of Fritz Lang's German movies, the forerunners of film noir, but this did not prevent them from becoming the object of a ferocious assault by Eisenhower-era moralists bent on suppressing horror comics during a crusade led by the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. His 1954 book, <em>Seduction of the Innocent</em>, attacked Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson's menage<em> </em>as a covert celebration of homosexuality. Ten years later, however, when <a href="http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Sontag-NotesOnCamp-1964.html" title="">Susan Sontag's seminal essay </a>Notes on Camp promoted kitsch and the idea of &quot;it's good because it's bad&quot;, <em>Batman </em>became a TV series in garish comic-strip colour and was followed by a tongue-in-cheek film version and a revival of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zNcKo2jb1k" title="">low-budget 1943 <em>Batman</em></a><em> </em>serial, all 15 chapters being shown back-to-back to open London's latest super cinema.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/22/dark-knight-rises-french-review">Continue reading...</a>FilmCultureChristopher NolanFritz LangTim BurtonHeath LedgerRoald DahlChristian BaleMorgan FreemanMichael CaineGary OldmanAnne HathawayBatmanThe Dark KnightThe Dark Knight RisesSat, 21 Jul 2012 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/22/dark-knight-rises-french-reviewPRChristian Bale's Batman takes on villains with a contemporary theme in The Dark Knight Rises.PRChristian Bale's Batman takes on villains with a contemporary theme in The Dark Knight Rises.Philip French2012-07-21T23:05:00ZThis week's new DVD &amp; Blu-rayhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/21/this-weeks-new-dvd-blu-ray
<p>Since its release in 1927, Fritz Lang's Metropolis has not only influenced any film-maker who wanted to create a futuristic city, it's also had a strong link with music. Indeed, plenty of performers with a strong eye for visuals – from Kraftwerk and Queen to Madonna and Janelle Mon&aacute;e – have plundered the film's still-impressive imagery for their videos and artwork.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/21/this-weeks-new-dvd-blu-ray">Continue reading...</a>DVD and video reviewsFilmCultureMarilyn MonroeFritz LangFri, 20 Jul 2012 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/21/this-weeks-new-dvd-blu-rayPRGiorgio Moroder Presents: MetropolisPRGiorgio Moroder Presents: MetropolisPhelim O'Neill2012-07-20T23:05:00ZYou Only Live Oncehttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/15/you-only-live-once-lang-dvd
(Fritz Lang, 1937, Studiocanal, 12)<p>Fritz Lang is one of the few directors with truly substantial bodies of film in both the silent and the sound era, though he rarely had the budgets or creative freedom during his Hollywood years that he'd enjoyed in 1920s Berlin.</p><p>This classic of social-conscience cinema, his third film after fleeing from Nazi Germany, stars Henry Fonda as a three-time loser, unjustly convicted of murder and on the run with his pregnant wife (Sylvia Sidney). It is at once a great prison melodrama, an expression of Lang's fascination with fate and destiny, and a powerful attack on the death penalty and the stigmatisation of ex-convicts. Fonda (here anticipating his Tom Joad in <em>The Grapes of Wrath</em>) has rarely been better, Sidney is heartbreaking as his devoted wife, and the supporting cast is a gallery of familiar character actors (Margaret Hamilton, Barton MacLane, William Gargan, Ward Bond et al).</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/15/you-only-live-once-lang-dvd">Continue reading...</a>DVD and video reviewsFilmCultureFritz LangDramaSat, 14 Jul 2012 23:03:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/15/you-only-live-once-lang-dvdHulton Archive/GettyHenry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney on the run in You Only Live Once. Photograph: Hulton Archive/GettyHulton Archive/GettyHenry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney on the run in You Only Live Once. Photograph: Hulton Archive/GettyPhilip French2012-07-14T23:03:36ZYou Only Live Once: watch a clip - videohttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2012/jun/27/you-only-live-once-video
Fritz Lang's 1937 film noir follows Eddie (Henry Fonda), an ex-convict who's desperate to settle down with his equally troubled wife Joan (Sylvia Sydney) and make a go of living a straight life. In this pivotal scene Eddie begs his old boss for his job back and old habits reveal themselves. You Only Live Once has been re-released on DVD to celebrate its 75th anniversary <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2012/jun/27/you-only-live-once-video">Continue reading...</a>Fritz LangDramaFilmCultureThu, 28 Jun 2012 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2012/jun/27/you-only-live-once-videoStudioCanal/StudioCanalHenry Fonda and William Pawley in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once Photograph: StudioCanalGuardian Staff2012-06-28T09:00:00ZBauhaus: Art as Life – reviewhttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/02/bauhaus-art-as-life-review
Barbican, London<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2012/apr/13/bauhaus-art-architecture-barbican-gallery" title="">In pictures: Bauhaus: Art as Life</a><br /><p>Tracing the trajectory of the <a href="http://bauhaus-online.de/en" title="">radical German art and design school</a> from its founding in Dessau by Walter Gropius in 1919 to its closure in Berlin in 1933, the exhibition <a href="http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12409" title="">Bauhaus: Art as Life</a> is superb. It is filled with fascinating and often beautiful things, from table lamps to ceramic pots, glove puppets to advertising posters for Nivea, school party invitations, dresses, photographic portraiture, gorgeous weaving and much besides.</p><p></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/02/bauhaus-art-as-life-review">Continue reading...</a>BauhausExhibitionsArt and designDesignCultureBarbicanPaul KleeFritz LangFilmWed, 02 May 2012 16:35:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/02/bauhaus-art-as-life-reviewPeter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesArt school as it should be … A visitor looks at photographs of the Bauhaus building at Dessau. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPeter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesA visitor looks at photographs of the Bauhaus building at Dessau. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesAdrian Searle2012-05-02T16:35:02ZSecret Beyond the Doorhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/13/secret-beyond-lang-classic-dvd
(Fritz Lang, 1947, Exposure, PG)<p>Fritz Lang, whose German expressionist movies helped create film noir, saw his disciple Alfred Hitchcock surge ahead of him in Hollywood. With this psychoanalytical thriller incorporating elements of <em>Rebecca</em>, <em>Suspicion</em> and <em>Spellbound</em>, he sought to establish he was Hitch's equal. It proved a critical and commercial disaster but is now widely seen as a key example of Lang's &quot;fantastical realism&quot;. A sublime, delirious melodrama, it stars Joan Bennett as a sleepwalking heiress who meets a charming architect (Michael Redgrave) in Mexico, and marries in haste. He turns out to have a bizarre family past and a weird present that includes re-creating in the basement of his New England mansion the rooms where famous murders occurred. Redgrave was cast because of his schizophrenic ventriloquist in <em>Dead of Night</em>. The outstanding photography is by Stanley Cortez, who shot <em>The Magnificent Ambersons</em> and <em>The Night of the Hunter</em>. The noir score is the work of Mikl&oacute;s R&oacute;zsa, who won Oscars for <em>Spellbound</em> and <em>Ben-Hur</em>. The surreal credit titles were executed at the Disney Studio.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/13/secret-beyond-lang-classic-dvd">Continue reading...</a>Fritz LangThrillerDVD and video reviewsFilmCultureSun, 13 Nov 2011 00:05:35 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/13/secret-beyond-lang-classic-dvdPRJoan Bennett in Lang's Secret Beyond the Door: ‘a sublime, delirious melodrama’.PRJoan Bennett in Fritz's masterly psychological thriller Secret Beyond the Door.Philip French2011-11-13T00:05:35ZWe need to talk about caffeine: great coffee sceneshttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/03/great-coffee-scenes
Coffee has got many a movie made, and kept many a scene on the boil. From Michael Mann to Jean-Luc Godard, David Thomson filters the meaning of the key bean-related moments<p>There comes a night in Michael Mann's film <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/17/heat-crime" title="">Heat</a> (1995) when the police detective (Al Pacino) decides he should have a little <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSdeQRbhPs" title="">chat</a> with the criminal he suspects is planning a major heist (Robert De Niro). Your first instinct may be to wonder: does every criminal enterprise in Los Angeles qualify for this friendly heart-to-heart where the law explains to the outlaw just how serious the crime and its consequences will be – is it a little like having your Miranda rights read to you? Or, is it simply that a big movie with Pacino and De Niro had to bring its firepower together, in the way Friedrich Schiller could not resist improving on history with a meeting between Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots in his play Mary Stuart? Or maybe it's the coffee?</p><p>You see, when Pacino summons an LAPD helicopter that can deposit him on the freeway where there's a car waiting, so he can track down De Niro's car and pull him over, the cop doesn't begin with, &quot;Have you heard the story about the rabbi and the priest?&quot;, or &quot;Suppose we put our heads together over a good crossword puzzle?&quot;, or even, &quot;What about a staring contest?&quot; Instead, he says: &quot;What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?&quot; And somehow that makes the far-fetched scene that follows seem as reasonable or casual as it is entertaining. Coffee is a mainstay of movies (as it is of movie-making – just about every scriptwriter's desk and every movie set are likely to be littered with styrofoam cups with a cold inch of undrunk coffee that has acquired the color and the strength of iron). Coffee is like cigarettes, cars, hats and telephones – you really aren't allowed to make a movie without them, and that's a big reason why Roman epics or films set in remote deserts are so difficult to do. In fact, in Heat, Pacino and De Niro spar with each other about their jobs, their prospects, their honor and their manliness – it's a load of high-toned actorly posing, but the coffee covers it. Coffee is a grim, unsweetened philosophy in the steady discourse of law and disorder. What a magical film it might be, though, if the two stars simply slid into a close-harmony version of the 1946 novelty <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVGXcjM9SOQ" title="">The Coffee Song</a>: &quot;Way down among Brazilians/ Coffee beans grow by the billions/ So they've got to find those extra cups to fill/ They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil.&quot; Whereupon, cop and crook could start a shuffling conga line that quickly enlists everyone else in the diner and ventures out into the night and the dangerous city.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/03/great-coffee-scenes">Continue reading...</a>FilmCoffeeDramaJean-Luc GodardJim JarmuschAlfred HitchcockAl PacinoRobert De NiroFritz LangFrancois TruffautCultureThu, 03 Nov 2011 21:59:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/03/great-coffee-scenesEverett/RexUnsweetened … Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat. Photograph: Everett/RexEverett/RexUnsweetened … Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat. Photograph: Everett/RexDavid Thomson2011-11-03T21:59:06Z